Jet
by Poison x Rainbow
Summary: Whatever happened to the girl the flock freed at The Institute? All those other unfortunate mutants? And what if they met back up again? xxx
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

My name is Jen. I am around twelve years old and I have spent my entire life in a cage. I have never seen the light day, only the florescent gleam of neon strips. I live in a cage in a cold, dark storage room full of other. . . things.

You see, I am an experiment. I was created by twisted, evil scientists who seem to feel the need to mutate human DNA by grafting animal genes into it. Then they analyze the results and dump them into cages, only opening them again to run tests.

I am one of five "results" that were created with avian-human DNA, and I am also one of two who survived. Which means I have wings. But I can't fly. I don't know how, because I can't ever even try to learn. One of the things that comes with being stuck in a dog crate since day one.

There are _tons _of other cages holding mutants here at The Institute, which is the name of this hell hole. A.k.a. lab. It's top secret, I suppose, since I highly doubt any of the stuff that goes on in this place is legal. I've picked up, by listening in on the scientist's conversations, that The Institute is in New York City, and it is hidden underneath a sewer. Lovely.

Anyway, besides bird genes, the scientists here have grafted pretty much every animal DNA imaginable into human embryos. A lot of them die, but the ones who don't live in the same storage hall that I do, hidden from a lab behind a glass wall and a curtain.

Below me, there is a little black dog that looks completely normal, but he can jump about twenty feet in the air and he can talk. Incidently, he _never shuts up. _Next to my cage is a little dark-skinned boy with a sort of patchy scale covering where he should have had hair, and beside him is a baby girl who can solve the most complex math problems in seconds, with absolutely no mistakes. On my other side is a girl who looks like a big cat, except for her human eyes and the fingers underneath her retractable claws.

But these recombinants are not the only things the scientists here create. They also made these power-charged, super-strong wolf human hybrids called Erasers. And, ironically enough, they're made to _erase_. They are the guards, hunters and executioners. They dispose of the useless, failed experiments. When they are in full _morph_, Erasers are vicious, hairy, fanged monsters with claws and teeth that could easily shred a man to bits, in seconds. But then they can also take a human form; resembling male models with feral, gleaming eyes and thick dark hair.

It's disgusting. I'm human enough to know that these scientists are horrible, twisted, crazy; with no regard at all for human life. They do this only for themselves, and for the sake of science. But science can, and does, go dreadfully wrong. To them though, results, theories, hypothesizes and experiments are all that is important. It never, ever crosses their minds that they are killing and mutilating innocent children.

So. That all pretty much summarized my childhood and nightmare of a life. I live in a cage. I have wings. I have tests run on me every single day. You might not believe me, but it's all true, even if you can't except that. Because the time will come when you're going to have to.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

I was sitting on a stool, a needle stuck in my arm. A scientist dressed in a white lab coat, like they all wore, was drawing blood. He had a grey, boring face and brown hair that was cut short. He was focusing completely on the syringe in my skin, and he didn't notice my wince when he pulled it out slowly. It was almost like he was trying to cause me as much pain as possible. The whitecoat emptied the syringe into a vial and set it on the counter.

Then he grasped me by the elbow and steered me out of the lab, into the hall. It was super-clean and sparkly white. It held the recognizable smell of antiseptic that made my skin crawl as he practically dragged me along.

I was sooooo tired. All day, I had been forced to run on a treadmill as he monitored my pulse and breathing. If I slowed down, he would zap me with a metal stick carrying an electrical charge. I had burn marks all over my legs.

The scientist unlocked the door of the storage hall and opened my cage. I obediantly crawled inside. He latched it and left, switching off the lights.

I leaned back against the cold metal, massaging my aching legs. I could hear the soft breathing of the sleeping experiments coming from all around me. I ran my grimy fingers through my long hair. There was a constant air conditioning blast in the storage hall that hardened the sweat on my face, making my skin crusty and rough. I tried to cover my freezing calves with the hospital frock I wore, but the material was so stiff and uncomfortable, it hardly did anything to warm me up.

I curled up and tried to relax, breathing deeply. Minutes passed slowly and the footsteps of the whitecoats in the hall grew less and less frequent, until there were none left to be heard. They had all left the laboratory for the night, to go home to their comfortable, warm homes. I clenched my fists bitterly. It must be sometime near midnight, I deciding, yawning. I closed my eyes, and just as I was slipping off into a painful doze, I heard something. I straightened up so quickly, I knocked the top of my head against the bars. _No one should be here. _At night, both the Erasers and the whitecoats weren't permitted in the lab.

There is a second room beside the storage hall, separated by a glass wall that is covered by a heavy curtain. It is the most restricted area of the Institute, and only specially authorized personnel are allowed in. But then . . . why were there shadows moving on the other side? What was going on?

For a few minutes, I sat in my cage, frozen, trying and failing to make out the muffled voices coming from the other side.

Then suddenly, the curtain was pulled aside and I leapt back, once again hitting the metal bars painfully. I winced, then looked back. Dark figures were looking into the room. They paused for a moment. A second later, the hidden door slid open and I suppressed a yelp of suprise. The intruders stepped quickly and quietly inside and I could see them better. Clutching the bars of my crate, I counted them. There were six of them and they were . . . _kids_?

The first was a girl. She looked a bit older than me and she had dirty-blonde hair. Her determined brown eyes were wide with shock and disgust. She was holding a bunch of folded papers in her hand and she stowed them in her jacket pocket as she stared around at all the cages.

The second person was a boy. He was taller than the girl; with long black hair, dressed in dark clothes. His face grew dark with anger at what he saw.

The third and fourth was a pale boy with strawberry blonde hair and a shorter black girl with frizzy curls. The boy seemed to be staring ahead at nothing and I couldn't imagine why. But when the girl took his hand and started to lead him around and muttering to him, I realized he must be blind.

The last two were younger children, a boy and a girl, who both had golden-colored hair and big blue eyes.

They all spread throughout the room, looking into the cages mutely. What were they doing here? Who were they? And most of all, why did all their faces bear an expression of sad understanding as they explored the room.

The dark boy stopped and looked at the lion-girl next to me.

"This is pathetic." He whispered.

The eldest girl turned to him and swallowed hard when she saw what he was staring at.

The little blonde girl was kneeling in front of the little black dog's cage.

"Hi doggie." She said. "Hi little doggie. You look like Toto. From the _Wizard Of Oz?_"

I had no idea what she was talking about, so I watched as the eldest girl went over to the black girl and looked into the crate she was standing stiffly beside. It was the cage that held the little one who had been given wings just two weeks ago. It hurt me to look at it, and it had the same effect on her. The dark-haired boy walked over. He sighed and shook his head sadly.

"You know, you can't save them all." He said quietly.

"I'm supposed to save the whole world, remember?" She whispered back defiantly. "Well, I'm gonna start with these guys."

I gaped at her, although she had no idea I was watching. What was this girl talking about? What did she know?

"Start popping latches." She ordered, opening the cage and lifting out the small winged boy. My heart swelled. They were freeing us.

"Get ready to run," she said quietly to no one in particular, "we're getting you out of here."

Her eyes swept around the room and fell on me. She handed the baby to the black girl and walked purposefully toward my cage. She quickly unlatched the door and I made myself speak.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" I whispered hoarsely.

She stared at me with furious determination glinting in her brown eyes.

"Kids don't belong in cages." Then she turned and said in a loud voice,

"Okay everybody. Let's blow this joint!"


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_"Okay, everybody!__Lets__ blow this joint!"_

The black girl leapt into action. "This way!" She said, directing the frightened mutants out of the lab. "Don't be afraid."

I stayed next to the dirty-blonde girl, who seemed to be their leader. She had one hand stuffed into her pocket, where she had put the papers and the other twisting frantically in her hair.

"I hear voices." The blind boy said wryly from over in the corner. "Be _very_ afraid."

"Let's move it!" The leader ordered, her teeth clenched, looking extremely frustrated. "Nudge, Fang, Angel! Out, out, out!" She yelled, gesticulating wildly. Okay. Good. Names. Weird ones, but names nonetheless. . . _Hello_, focus! We're escaping here.

"Up the stairs!"

We all ran across the room and thundered up the steps, taking two stairs at a time. Up ahead, the dark boy, Fang, burst through a door and we all spilled out. It was dark and wet and stank something awful. I glanced around in disgust. We were in some kind of tunnel and the walls were covered with foul smelling liquid and I heard plenty of coughing and gagging sounds coming from behind me. The air was heavy and damp and I could hardly breathe. It seemed like heat was pressing in on us, suffocating me and making sweat break out all over. We were standing on a transparent cat-walk hanging over a river of disgusting water and. . . other things. I herded my way back over to the girl.

"Where are we?" I asked quietly.

"Sewer system, under a big city." She snapped irritably. "On our way out to fresh air and sunlight."

"But not just yet," Someone hissed from behind us. " First we need to chat, Maximum. For old times sake."

* * *

_Yeah, it's sort. Sorry about that._


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The girl froze, her brown eyes hardening. She passed me the small, winged mutant she was clutching in her arms and turned around slowly.

Behind us stood a young man looked just like a model in the twenties. He had tan skin, thick curly hair and mesmerizing green eyes. But the second the girl saw him and narrowed her eyes, his body began to morph. He sprouted coarse black hair all over and his mouth and nose protruded into an ugly snout. Fangs curved downward from his lips as he grinned evilly.

"Back again? What are _you _doing here?" the blonde girl said recklessly, while frantically signaling for us to run behind her back. " I thought Dad was keeping you on a short leash."

The Eraser growled, clawed hands curling into fists. He took a threatening step forward.

Behind me, I could hear the black girl, Nudge, trying to get the others to move as fast as she could.

"So what happened, Ari? Who took care of you when Jeb left with us?" She was attempting to distract him. I had a feeling it was not going to work very well.

I felt someone tugging on the back of my hospital frock. It was the small blonde boy.

"C'mon!" He hissed.

I realized that while I had been standing there watching the exchange between the female leader and the Eraser, everyone had made their way farther up the tunnel. I turned to follow him back toward the group. Before we rounded the corner, I glanced back over my shoulder just in time to see the Eraser lash and out hit the girl so hard that she spun against the wall. Then they were gone from sight and the only thing I could hear was muffled, angry voices.

I jogged beside the boy, fighting to keep up. I had only ever run in the lab back at the Institute, with whitecoats watching my every move. I've never stretched myself out like this before. I had to struggle to keep the child wrapped in my arms aloft.

"What . . . about . . . her?" I gasped.

He didn't bother to look back at me.

"Max'll be fine."

But when he shook his flyaway hair from his face, I could see that he was worried as well.

At the end of the tunnel, there was a metal door, where I could make out the boy with the black hair. Fang. He had wrenched it open and was now urging the last of the herd outside. We ran forward, our feet slapping against the hard concrete, mine bare. The sound of the footfalls echoed against the sewer walls. Far behind, I could faintly hear shouting coming from the depths of the dark, slimy maze. I could not make out what the words were. I curled my grimy hands into fists, my fingernails digging into cracked skin.

We burst through the door into a totally different world. Cold, fresh, crisp air enveloped me as I stared up at the huge buildings towering up against the night sky. Neon lights in every color possible flashed and burned in my eyes. Hundreds of vehicles zoomed past us on the street, headlights throwing obnoxious beams of light on us. We all stood hypnotized by the sight.

I felt someone beside me. It was Fang. He was smiling grimly, his sleek black hair blown across his face.

"Welcome to New York City."

It was the first time I got a good look at him. And he wasn't looking so well. He had one black eye and the entire right side of his face was bruised and cut up. There were four red streaks down the side of his neck that looked like claw marks. His lips were cracked and split. He seemed to move in a stiff, pained way. I winced.

"What happened to you?"

But instead of answering the question, he only laughed under his breath bitterly, shaking his head. It made me angry.

"Look, who _are _you?" I demanded, "why are you guys freeing all of us anyway? Won't this all be noticeable? If you haven't realized, the whole lot of us aren't exactly normal looking!"

"Would you rather go back?" He had said it calmly, but his dark eyes had suddenly flashed fiercely and it startled me. His glare drilled into my own eyes.

"Wha – ? No! But . . . what about that girl in there? What's gonna happen to her? How's she getting out?"

Fang looked up at a skyscraper. The light emitting from it's windows and billboards reflected in his passive eyes.

"Max can take care of herself?"

Everyone kept talking about this Max like she was some kind of super hero. But she was only a bit older than me! How could she be that amazing? And how was she supposed to hold up against that Eraser back there? Maybe she was able to, I didn't know. Perhaps she _could _take care of herself. But could she take care of us? Or would all twenty-five or so mutants be wandering aimlessly around the streets of New York, defenseless and out in the open?

I was totally and undescribably grateful for there kids helping us. I had never _ever _been this incredibly free before. _Ever_. But . . .

"I can't stay with you." I said in a quiet voice. "I'll take all of them and go. We don't belong with you. We're freaks. Thank you for everything. But we have to go."

I went to step around him, but Fang blocked me.

"You're crazy. You've never been out in the real world before. You have no where to go. You don't know anything." His face was expressionless, but I could hear the urgency in his voice. "The only safe place is with us."

"No!" I nearly yelled, my temper raising surprising fast. I wanted to scream at him, to hit him, so I could wipe that calm, cool look off his face. I had to leave. I couldn't stay.

"You have _no _idea what it's like," I growled, my face inches from his, "living like this!"

"Actually." He said. " I do."

I gaped at him.

"No. _No, you don't_. You didn't live in a cage! You aren't an experiment!" I spat.

Fang didn't say anything, he only smiled sadly. What was _with_ him? How could he possibly know what my life was like?

"I'm leaving and you can't stop me." I said fiercely through gritted teeth.

For a second we stared at each other.

"Alright." He finally said, surrendering. "Go ahead. And don't say I didn't warn you."

Fang stepped aside and I pushed the little pack of mutants past him in silence. I came by last and stopped, holding out my hand. He took it.

"Thank you."

He nodded and his dark eyes followed me as I made my way after the others toward an alley. Then he turned and disappeared.


End file.
